definition

what defines a person as 'mentally ill' or 'healing'? Does society view me as ill b/c Im bipolar and such?

for me, healing just sounds nicer.... healing means i am in the process of growing and learning and improving from past or even current errors... it implies i am in a process that will beneift myself and my society..

'ill' implies just that... i am broken and need repair.. imo.....

i know whatcha mean, but I mean how does society decide who they consider 'mentally ill'? what exactly are the requirements for such a definition? i know when i was in the hospital they used the tern freely? does that mean they considered all of there ill?

i believe that if one is very observant that they may notice the entire planet is in a process of growth... thus we can cast away blame...

secondly, yes, it is my opinion that society at large casts a negative view upon 'the ill' .. it can be witnessed in the popular statement 'only the strong survive' .. therefore, i believe it is sub-consciously implanted on the psyche to avoid 'illness' in all its forms.. also it is a very good health habit....

but there seems to be a differentiation in societies general behavior if one compares the the treatment one might receive as either a mentally ill patient or a physically ill patient... both in the field of medicine and economics, as well as in real life opinions from peers...

what i think needs to happen is an acceptance of the 'growth in process' example and allowance of each other to be unique and individual... with unique and individual needs to be met..... so that 'the outcasts' are drawn into the circle of the whole and healing as a whole human race could begin....

imo, it is 'separation' from the whole which creates the stigma of so called 'mental illness'

sorry if this post is overly opinionated or off track...

Society is a group of individuals.

I really don't think there is anything wrong with the term mental illness. There is, however, something wrong with how people sometimes view someone who has a mental illness.

Personally, I think that those who try to change the terms are the ones who have the biggest issues with it. Lately, I have been hearing the following terms, rather than mental illness:

Mental health issue/problem
Behavioral health issue/problem
Emotional issue/problem

Why are people afraid to say "illness?" I have a mental illness. At 17, I became ill for the first time. I am not afraid to say that. My dad has diabetes-- he has an illness. We do not try to hide this with other words.

I also hate the different names they give to therapy/psychiatry patients:

client
consumer
participant

When I go to my primary care physician, am I any of these things? How the %#@&#! does one consume treatment? You are a consumer if you are going into a store and buying products. You are a client of your accountant.

I don't understand why it is so important to shift the terms, rather than work on how other people treat all things/people associate with mental illness.

Terms like lunatic and insanity-- those aren't good terms to use. Terms like illness and patient? It blows me away how afraid and embarrassed people can be to use these in terms of the brain.

As far as the terms 'illness' and 'healing' I look at it like this-- First, as far as whether one will be 'ill' for the rest of his/her life-- well that all depends on the illness. As far as my diagnoses, I know that I will live the rest of my life with mental illness. I prefer to use the term 'recovery' rather than healing. Recovery means that although you are living with an illness, you are in the phase in which you can life your life way past what the minimum functioning would be. I will never be cured; I know that. However, I think that terms like healing, recovery, management, and treatment are all perfectly applicable.

I can't worry about society viewing me as ill because of my diagnoses-- fact is, I am ill. I have an illness. However, the goal would be to get to the point in which it is not so active that it disturbs my life.

it is not only fear that i am referring to pinksoil and as you pointed out, it is how society views the mentally ill which is the problem

it may also affect economic considerations imo, tho, i would have to do a lot of research to support that....

in my own experience, as a teen and suffering and abusing simultaneously, parents quickly grew tired of my incapacities... help, as i viewed it, was denied me... i was supposed to grow up is all... and that itself was very poorly defined in my case, at least it seemed so at the time to me...

had i had cancer on the other hand.... i would have received all the treatment i could afford....

so.. back to the point... people with mental illness are treated differently in general imo.....

'mentally healing' implies i am helping myself and admittedly, receiving help from others.... it helps me feel more proactive about my healing, rather than needing to be fixed and somewhat incapable of treating myself in much of any way.. tho i acknowledge that may be the case to degrees for others...

i guess what i am saying is that the term 'healing' feels empowering.. where 'ill' sounds 'de-powering' to me....

sure, only some of us are affected by word usage this way...

thanks for listening....

I agree with pink.

What's so wrong with having an illness?

Do we judge people with Diabetes? Asthma? Food allergies?

Why is an illness that effects our brain any different than an illness that effects our kidneys, or lungs, or glands?

right.. we should not judge... agreed : )

i guess the term 'mentally ill' makes me feel defective. but, so does taking all my meds. i need to learn its ok. its ok to take meds to feel better. and to learn all that matters is i am helping myself feel better.

personally Hallie, i like to see it as growing... imo, you are .. thank you for sharing.. i also am growing : )

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pinksoil said:
I really don't think there is anything wrong with the term mental illness. There is, however, something wrong with how people sometimes view someone who has a mental illness.

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nowheretorun said:
right.. we should not judge... agreed : )

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SeptemberMorn said:
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pinksoil said:
I really don't think there is anything wrong with the term mental illness. There is, however, something wrong with how people sometimes view someone who has a mental illness.

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Fuzzybear said:
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nowheretorun said:
right.. we should not judge... agreed : )

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fuzzy, i do think we have to make choices for ourselves tho, and those choices do affect others, imo...

((fuzzybear)))))

Hello (((Hallie))). I am sorry that you are struggling at this time. Unfortunately when clinicians (nurses or Drs) become immune to working with people with mental health issues, everyone gets classified at times as mentally ill when they go into the hospital for inpatient treatment. Such as an illness like the flu. Unfortunately the words and attitudes towards mental health patients are somewhat offensive when hearing this descriptive of what Drs feel is mental illness, and sometimes derails recovery because it starts to consume the patient that feels unstable already from having to be admitted to the hospital and then feel concerned about their well being in the future. It would be nice if Drs could stop from referring to people as mentally ill in front of their patients, since it does make a grave difference in how they feel and see themselves in seeking recovery. Hopefully in time things will change for the better in how people view themselves and mental health, and how mental health issues are addressed in the future in Dr patient relationships. In the meantime just keep seeking the encouraging support you need to help yourself feel encouraged to do what is needed in order to feel better and be the person that you would like to be in the future. That is basicaly all anyone can do with or without a mental health issue. Take care (((Hallie))). Pm anytime. Soidhonia .

For my internship I am doing assessments of new patients in nursing homes. Every patient has what is called a "Level I Assessment" in their file (I don't do those - they are completed upon admission). Part of the Level I screenign is to identify patients who have "serious mental illness," which includes (in this state) Schizophrenia, Other Psychotic Disorders, Panic Disorder, Other Severe Anxiety Disorders, Depression or Bipolar Disorders, Somatization Disorder, and Borderline Personality Disorder.

When I (or the psychologists that I work with) do these assessments, we are told not to diagnose anybody with Depression, etc, because then the nursing home would be required to do a Level II Assessment, which involves calling in more specialists, and there are rules limiting how many Level II patients can be in the nursing home, and it's generally a big pain. So we say that the patient has "symptoms of depressed mood" instead. If someone comes in with a prescription for a mental illness, they get the doctors to write a clarification that the person has, for example, "celexa for depressive features related to life circumstances." They don't want mental illness dx on the charts.

In reality, more than half of the nursing home patients I assess have depression or anxiety or something significant. Some of them severe. We are allowed to offer treatment, if the person qualifies, but I think it's frustrating that we can't call it what it is, and that so many don't get treatment who could use it.

thats sad. everyone deserves help. at work (i take care of adults with intellectual disabilites) we have many residents with schizophrenia, mood disorders and anxiety disorders. i can't stand when employees talk bad about the resdients who self-harm. i too have issues with it.

Yes, at my job I work with people with intellectual or developmental disabilities too. A lot of them have mental illnesses in addition, and they are much less likely to get therapy, and more likely to get medicated (not always appropriately). I'm trying to convince staff that Xanax is for anxiety, and is not a magic anti-aggression pill (that doesn't work too well as such). And I'm still not sure how they can decide that someone who is nonverbal has hallucinations. Maybe he just likes staring at the ceiling, or maybe he noticed a cobweb.

yeah. they all get meds...no T. but theyre nonverbal as well.